For deep-water systems, pressure drop across pipelines and risers limits flow and ultimate hydrocarbon recovery. Further, recovered hydrocarbons often flow in multiple fluid phases, such as various combinations of oil, water, and gas. The fluid phases can be separated into separate fluid flows for better recovery. However, slugging complicates the design and operation of topside separation equipment and additionally makes operation of a subsea separator more complex.
For mature fields that see increase in water production, total hydrocarbon recovery is reduced due to issues such as higher pressure drops across the pipelines, overcapacity to the topside processing equipment and depleted reservoir pressure. Subsea oil water separation with water injection can reduce the pressure drop through gas and liquid pipelines, debottleneck topside processing equipment, improve flow assurance by reducing free water content and reduce occurrences of slugging via transportation of gas and liquid through separate risers.